


Tales Of Vesuvia

by Saiyurimai



Category: The Arcana: A Mystic Romance
Genre: Drabble Collection, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 11:17:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20063140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saiyurimai/pseuds/Saiyurimai
Summary: A collection of one shots and drabbles based on the The Arcana: A Mystic Romance game, no real shape or form of it, just a whole bunch of self indulgent shipping stuff. Because I can.





	Tales Of Vesuvia

Sai sighed as she returned to her home after an early morning visit to the market, carrying back her haul of books she’d gotten from her friend who had a book stall in the main part of town. She heard the familiar chirping of her familiar as she entered. “Yes yes, I know. I’m late but look at all these books I’ve got now!” She smiled and set the books on the table before heading to the small kitchen, starting a nice breakfast for the two of them while Slink, her dragon curled up on top of the books, reading the spines carefully. He gave another series of chirps and squeaks as she cooked.

“Yes I do need them. They have important spells and stuff for new medicines to make in them. And they weren’t that expensive. Bucky gave me a good price.” She responded, understanding him easily through their link. “Oh don’t give me that. You’re not going to starve if I spend a couple extra coins on some books. We make plenty enough through some of the people here to live comfortably.” He huffed and flopped onto the tops of the books, tail twitching as he gave a grumbled growl in her direction.

Sai shook her head and smiled softly. Finishing up breakfast she gave him a small bow full of eggs and some sliced fruit before settling down with her own meal to eat, cracking open one of her books and browsing through it. She spent most of the day alone with Slink, puttering about the house doing chores and keeping herself busy. By afternoon there was a knock on the door, surprising her as she wasn’t expecting any visitors. 

Upon opening she saw the other magician that was quite well known around the town. “Oh! Asra, I wasn’t expecting you today. What can I do for you?” She smiled, he was handsome, and genuine. He gave a soft smile and leaned against the door frame.

“You’ve been summoned. Nadia wants to meet with the very talented Sai and see if you’re worthy of becoming a court magician. She’s been very impressed with your headache medicine; says she can’t sleep without it now.” He handed Sai a scroll with the royal seal on it and she blinked in confusion. “You’re really impressed her and she wants to meet the magician responsible for making things a little bit easier on her. And frankly you’ve impressed me as well.” He winked and Sai blushed a bit under the attention.

“Oh. Well…I guess it would be rude of me to ignore such a formal summons. Are…are you coming with?” She asked and he nodded, extending his arm for her to take. “Just let me lock up and we can go.” She blushed and gathered a few things, the scroll tucked away in her purse before locking up the cabin and taking Asra’s offered arm. The two were friendly, striking up conversation as they walked towards the extravagant palace together. She was nervous, having only met the Countess a few times when making her delivery of medicinal tea the last couple of months.

But at least having Asra by her side was a bit more calming than if she had gone by herself. She was led right up to the palace and through the gate after showing the summons. Nadia had invited her to dinner, showing off an amazing spread of food that Sai had only dreamed about. She was sure if Slink was here, he would have dived head first into the large plate. Nadia was gorgeous, and she held herself with such a sense of grace and civility that it was almost intimidating. Asra helped her get comfortable, swaying the conversation subtly so that it was easy to talk to her.

Still Sai was a stuttering mess. She wasn’t used to this sort of scene, she was a loner, she didn’t have servants or chefs to cook for her. But Countess Nadia was so at home here, and she was kind enough to offer Sai the position despite the fact that Sai was sure she was making a fool of herself. “It’s getting late. I’ve asked Portia to make up a room for you to stay tonight if you’d like to stay the night.” She offered and stood as there were others coming in to clear the table. “I’d very much like to discuss your station more in the morning if you wouldn’t mind. And should you feel like it, you’re more than welcome to join me and Asra for a nightcap.” The countess smiled and Sai blushed softly as she stood and nodded, thanking her.

“Come follow me and I’ll show you to your room miss Sai.” Portia smiled brightly, the red-haired woman looking just at home in the palace as Nadia. “Oh! Just wait here! I forgot something really quick.” Portia left Sai in a hallway where a pair of gorgeous white dogs were lounging at the base of what looked like an abandoned part of the palace. Their ears perked up as they caught sight of her and their tails started to wag.

“Aw, are you a pair of beauties.” Sai smiled and extended her hand nonthreateningly towards their curious noses. They sniffed and wagged their tails with their ears pricked forward curiously. They were absolutely gorgeous, all soft white fur and elegance. “And who do you two belong to?” She asked when they allowed her to pet them, giving them much deserved chin scratches and felt the one with the notch in their ear move around and press its head at the small of her back, pushing her up the stairs into the darkened halls of the abandoned wing.

It was dusty and dark and covered in cobwebs. It looked like no one had been here for ages, there was what looked like smoke damage. Sai had heard of the fire that had claimed Nadia’s ex-husband Count Lucio around three years ago or so, many rumors running around the town that a once beloved doctor was the cause of the murder but even that had mixed reviews.

Sai watched as one of the dogs pushed the door open and slipped inside, barking for her to follow, the other behind her and coaxing her forward. “Okay, Okay I’m going in. I don’t know why but I guess you have something important to show me.” She muttered and entered the burnt-out husk of a room. Sai gasped at the destruction, very few things had managed to survive the flames as she looked around the room. Even the frame of a painting had damage, although the handsome man in the center was left unscathed. “Was this…was this where Count Lucio died?” She asked to no one in particular.

The dogs whimpered, tails causing little puffs of dust and ash to kick up wherever they went. One went over and knocked over a burnt-up chest, sending it crashing to the floor. Sai squeaked in surprise as a golden arm rolled onto the floor to touch her feet. “MINE…” Came a deep whisper from somewhere at her ear making her jump up with a loud squeal. The dogs on the other hand perked up and gave soft barks as they looked around the room.

Well that certainly answered that question. Sai fought the urge to run right out of the room, mostly because the door shut loudly behind her, keeping her inside as she saw a pair of crimson eyes staring her down, the ghostly outline of a strange goat creature missing an arm coming in front of her. “MINE…” He muttered again, his gaze flicking to the arm laying at her feet. She blinked and looked down at the arm and back up at the goat man curiously.

“So…what? What do you want me to do about it? Put it back? Or…” She wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted from her. It wasn’t like she could just pick it up and stick it back on his amputated arm. He was a ghost. And the arm was real, solid. It would just fall back to the ground. There was a look of annoyance that flitted through the crimson eyes.

“I want you to fix it. To fix me. I can tell you have considerable amounts of magic. I can feel it. I want you to make me like myself again. Instead of this…” He motioned to himself with a curl of his lip in disgust. “I want to look beautiful again.” He sighed wistfully, looking back at the painting of himself. Sai had to admit that he had been beautiful, those shimmering golden locks, the way he held himself, the subtle musculature that could be seen under the fabric painted over them. 

“Why would I do that? I don’t even know you. Well, aside from what I know of you.” She asked, never one for trusting strange ghosts, and ghosts that had a history of being warmongers, violent and rotten to the core. She’d heard the stories, had talked to those who remembered the fights at the coliseum, the many statues that Lucio had erected of himself for purely what seemed like vanity reasons that Countess Nadia had painstakingly taken down to help the people move on from his reign after his death.

Count Lucio narrowed his gaze her and stood taller to look intimidating, puffing out his chest. “You don’t know anything! And you should help me because I told you to! I’m your count! You should listen to me!” Sai quirked a brow at him, hands on her hips, rising to his challenge.

“Actually. You’re dead. So technically you’re the ex-Count. Your wife is the one in charge now and technically I only have to listen to her. You’re a ghost and I don’t need to do a damn thing, especially if you’re not going to be nice about it.” She huffed and started to turn away from him, only to hear the crashing of a mirror, feeling a stray piece of glass scratch the back of her leg. She spun on him and gave him a glare that had him stepping back with wide eyes. “And especially not if you’re going to throw a hissy fit over it! You could’ve hurt the dogs! You big overgrown baby!” She narrowed her gaze as Count Lucio seemed to realize that he could have indeed hurt his precious dogs.

They had settled on the burnt-up bed but had jumped up with yelps of surprise at the crashing of the mirror. “I’m so sorry my beauties…just be careful when you get down. Daddy will clean it up.” His tone softened almost immediately as he turned his gaze to the two dogs who wagged their tails at the response of his voice. He even started to brush the glass shards aside and out of the way for them when they did get down. Sai sighed and shook her head. Damnit. She was always a sucker for anyone who was kind to animals. And the dogs seemed so happy to see him.

“Alright fine. Fine. I’ll help you. But there’s consequences-“ She was cut off as Count Lucio came in front of her, goat face inches from hers. Hope in his crimson eyes. “You’ll be bound to me. I mean technically you’d be relatively free to roam; you’d be out of this wing for sure but…You’d have to follow me around instead.” 

Lucio shook his head. “I don’t care! Just do it! Get me out of this wretched dump and make me beautiful again! I don’t care what it takes! I can’t be looking like this for eternity!” Sai cleared her throat and he gave a soft but begrudging “please” that went right to her heart strings. She sighed and nodded, grabbing her small collection of herbs and drew a summoning circle in the cleanest part of the room, Lucio finding a few candles that had managed to survive the flames and handing them to her so she could light them.

She placed the golden prosthetic in the center and started her spell, Lucio on the other side of the circle, watching her carefully, barely contained excitement behind his large furry body. “Careful…its sharp.” He warned and she ignored it. She needed a binding element as she carefully nicked the edge, bringing forth a bit of blood. In an instant the wind kicked up, picking up ash and dust, putting out the candles and sending them all into darkness for a moment before it settled down again, revealing a newly, albeit still see through Count Lucio in all his previous glory.

He grinned as he looked down at himself, the dogs coming over and greeting him happily, tails wagging a million miles a minute as he swept them up in a hug. “That’s right my beauties, daddy’s home. Daddy’s home.” He smiled and allowed himself to be covered in the pair of dogs who licked and nuzzled into his hands. Sai let out a soft sigh.

She couldn’t resist a man with a love for animals like he clearly had for his dogs. And his dogs loved him, that much was obvious. And he was so cute cooing to them and giving them all the love. She was screwed. As arrogant as this man seemed to be and completely vain…she had a weakness and it was clear that Lucio was fitting right there into it as he looked up at her with pure joy in his face.

“Thank you. I can finally give them the pets they so obviously deserve. Finally.” He scratched Mercedes under the chin and was rewarded with a lick to his cheek. Oh she was so screwed, she thought to herself, already feeling the beginnings of something fluttering in her chest. She only hoped that she wouldn’t set Asra off when he realized what she’d done…


End file.
